Midday Delusions
by TeaLovingAmerican
Summary: When Shintaro Kisaragi is sent a package from his online friend Ene with the new hottest game by the mysterious company AZaMi in it, he never expected to enter a game of life and death. But the game Medusa's Curse is dangerous and addictive, and Shintaro is about to get addicted, and fast. Video Game!AU


**Author's Note: **In honor of the anime having come out, as I'm writing this, yesterday, I give you a Kagerou AU. I both loved the anime and hated bits of it. I much preferred Shintaro to be a loser who still lived with his mom and had a regular computer that he obsessed over, not a gigantic monitor that included a full wall side window. But I suppose Shintaro having state of the art technology makes sense since his little sister _is _an idol. Although I was disappointed to not see even a hint of Tono's cage. But I digress. It wasn't like I knew Tono existed in the first chapter after all. I didn't really like Ayano's voice, but I felt Kano's voice actor was beyond perfect. Anyways this is an odd plot bunny that hit me and wouldn't let me go so here I am writing it. Welcome to my mind and enjoy.

* * *

Chapter One

Player 1 Enters the Game

On most afternoons, Shintaro Kisaragi spent his time browsing internet chatrooms, trying to make the next big song hit, or, more often than not, being bothered by his online 'friend' Ene. The eldest Kisaragi child had met the girl by a wrongly sent e-mail a year ago. Shintaro had received the e-mail, detailing a strong dislike for the person the e-mail was meant for, along with a long rant about the many glitches and poor plotline of one of the newest computer games on the market. The both curious and affronted NEET politely responded to the e-mail, stressing that the e-mail was sent to the wrong person. Instead of an apology however, Shintaro received a reply describing him as a nosy nobody who sniffs around for anything interesting. Shintaro had quickly, in a fit of mini-rage, sent a reply, full to the brim with snarky remarks, capital letters, and exclamation points. But instead of a similar reply, the seventeen year old shut-in received an amused message back, along with an inquiry of his screen name on a popular chat site.

Since then, the elder girl had seemingly attached herself to Shintaro. The boy learned quickly that the girl was a genius hacker and had even hacked his computer so that whenever she wanted to talk to him, a blue haired sprite appeared on his screen and wouldn't disappear until he opened the chatbox. Ene, as she told him to call her, was a year older than him and apparently worked as a test-runner of computer programs due to her skill. And skill, Shintaro learned, the girl definitely had. Whenever Ene could convince him to join her in playing a game, the girl would score some of the highest scores possible. Despite this, however, the NEET almost always beat his friend's score, much to the hacker's chagrin. Ene had taken to mockingly calling him 'Master' after he first beat her at a game, and after Ene saw how much it annoyed the younger male, the nickname stuck. The two rarely ever told each other personal information, because the closeness wasn't really needed. They were perfectly fine with being friends through the pixels of the screen.

On this particular afternoon, Shintaro Kisaragi, the eighteen year old hiki-NEET was sitting in front of his computer, staring blankly at a box lying on his lap. The box seemed innocent enough, the regular packaging brown with a white label on the top. It was the label that had the raven haired boy's stomach churning however. Because on the small white label, in big blue ink and capital letters, on the lines detailing to whom the package was for and whom it was from, it said, 'To: SHINTARO K. AKA MASTER' and 'From: ENE.' While it was true that _Shintaro _knew next to nothing of his internet friend's personal life, and neither of the two ever exchanged much information about themselves, one can never hide anything personal from a true hacker. And so every now and then, Shintaro would receive a questionable package which would lead to his mother sneering at him in suspicion over the dinner table. Going by the suspicion in his mother's eyes as she had handed him the package currently sitting in his lap around ten minutes previously, tonight would end in more suspicious glances over the dinner table.

And still, the package lay upon the eighteen year old's lap, innocently staring up at him. The boy glared at it, childishly snarling at it before sighing. He couldn't just leave it closed and throw it out. Or could he? As tempting as the idea sounded, something inside him reminded him that Ene could and would hack into his files and post his most embarrassing pictures all over the internet if he even attempted throwing whatever it was out without looking at it. With that in mind, the NEET grimaced before prying open the package, slicing the packing tape with a pair of scissors from his desk.

At first glance, Shintaro believed Ene to be playing a prank on him, sending him an empty package, but as he looked deeper inside the box, he saw a game case at the bottom. Reaching a hand inside, his fingers dancing across the smooth surface of the front of the case, Shintaro brought the game into the line of his monitor screen for him to see it. As he finally saw the cover, his eyes noticeably widened.

On the cover was a small girl with long, flowing black hair and piercing red eyes. What appeared to be scales littered her face, and a headband attached to a long flying red ribbon that flew in her hair could be seen. She wore a simple black dress with snakes with glittering scales lazily wrapped around it. If the title image wasn't enough to alert the eighteen year old to the game he was holding in his hand, it was the written title at the top and the company name at the bottom. Shintaro shakily breathed in as it slowly dawned on him what Ene had managed to get her hands on for him.

The game he was holding was called Medusa's Curse, a new game made by the popular overnight game company AZaMi. At first, the only people to have it were the first fifty national champions for a popular war and survival game. Ene, as Shintaro had learned was the popular gamer LightningDancerEne, was second place in the competition, and as such, had been one of the first to get to play the game. Ene had voice chatted the hiki-NEET while she first played the game, but had been surprisingly close lipped about what was happening. Shintaro only had the vaguest of an idea of what the game was about. All Ene had to say was that she had never played a game like Medusa's Curse in her life.

A week after the game had mysteriously appeared on the doorstep of the fifty national champions, the game became available for purchase online. However, the price was ridiculously high. Those who could afford it would buy it, but for the vast majority, the game was still a mystery. A few of the players had tried to put an online video stream of them playing the game, but the files had been deleted, and the people who streamed the video had been fined. Anyone who hadn't played the game was completely clueless as to what the game was about, and those who had, were completely silent about the game, other than to heap praises to the newly legendary company. AZaMi had never been heard of before the game went out, but suddenly it was amongst the other legendary brands as one who went down in video game history.

Shintaro had never expected to hold an actual copy of the game in hand, let alone own one. His eyes drank in the cover art before flipping the case over to look at the back. Two large red eyes stared back up at him. His eyes stared into the printed eyes, entranced, before straying down to a sticky note lying below them. His lips upturned at the sight of the blue ink and he slowly peeled the note off the back cover before reading it. There were only five words upon the note: 'Have fun. You owe me.'

The eighteen year old, though he wouldn't admit it, pouted and crumpled up the note up before tossing it into the waste basket beside his desk. His mouth suddenly feeling dry, he licked his lips before grabbing a bottle of cola that he always had at hand and taking a large drink. Heaving a sigh and setting the drink back onto his desk, Shintaro gathered his courage before bringing his hands to the case of the game to open it, only to be interrupted by his computer screen brightening and letting out a high-pitched 'ping.'

Shintaro frowned before looking at the blue sprite at the bottom of the page that he knew would be there. Just as he suspected, the blue themed girl with pigtails was sitting on the bottom right hand corner of his desktop, idly swinging her pixel legs. As if somehow sensing that the computer's owner was looking at her, the small blue haired girl smiled and waved, a pre-determined message coming out of her mouth in a speech bubble. 'Hello Master! Would you like to answer the call? Yes or Yes,' appeared in bright blue letters, the words yes appearing in little clickable boxes at the bottom of the message. The raven haired boy grimaced before reaching for his mouse to click the closest available 'Yes.' As he clicked it, the blue haired sprite gave one last face splitting grin before popping into non-existence, leaving a pixelated microphone in its place.

"Did you get the package, dork?"

The female voice came from his speakers and he groaned internally. If Ene wasn't teasingly calling him 'Master,' that meant that she was extremely frustrated. Shintaro wasn't sure exactly what her problem was this time, but he suspected she didn't get enough sleep.

"What has you so pissy? You sound like you're going to bite my head off," he scoffed, glaring at the computer screen despite it being a fruitless effort since his friend didn't have a video feed of him going. Probably. He never knew with the hacker, really.

"Tempting, but no. Just answer the question," Ene growled out, seemingly not in the mood for idle chat.

Shintaro may not seem like much, having not stepped outside of his house for two years, unemployed, still living with his mom, semi-messy room, and large, dark bags under his equally dark eyes, but one thing he was not was poor. Thanks to his younger sister's successful career in the music industry, the Kisaragi's were rather well off. So if he really wanted, Shintaro could have bought the game for himself. Granted, it would have taken a lot of self-deprecating begging of his family for the money to do so, but he could have still done it. And Shintaro had no doubt in his mind that Ene knew this fact.

"Why?"

He knew for a fact that his quick witted friend would get what he was asking, and he was proven right when Ene's snarky voice replied, "Because I knew you wouldn't get it for yourself, idiot. And you have to have this game. If not because this game is like nothing you've ever played before, then because it's multi-player and though I wouldn't like to admit it, you're good. I want you on my team."

Shintaro's dark eyes blinked owlishly at his bright computer screen. So that's what this is about?

"You're using me." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

He heard a dainty scoff from his speakers before his friend's voice floated through once more.

"If that's the way you want to see it, sure."

Shintaro's eyebrows furrowed as he thought, eyes straying back to the game case in his hand. The NEET subconsciously whispered the game's title in wonder, which his microphone must have picked up, judging by the harsh laughter coming from his tech genius friend.

"Yeah, Medusa's Curse. Have you started it or what?" his friend seemed to finally get down to the question she wanted to ask, if her voice was anything to go by.

Shintaro grimaced at the computer screen before sarcastically answering, "I was about to before you called me."

This just seemed to irritate the hacker however, as she pretty much yelled out her last words, "Well then get to it!" before abruptly ending the connection between them.

Shintaro sighed in both relief and slight guilt as he saw the miniature microphone symbol was gone. He had meant to thank her, honestly, his mouth just hadn't listened. Ah well, he decided, it wasn't like she deserved a thanks. She admitted she only bought it for him to use him.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Shintaro had half a mind to go and do what he usually would on a normal afternoon. However, the game in his hand seemed to begin to weigh a ton as he thought and he reluctantly looked back down at the cover. Looking back up at him was the black haired girl, her printed red eyes staring into his, along with her numerous snakes' eyes. The NEET let out a long sigh before finally bringing himself to breaking the seal of the game by opening it.

Inside, there sat the disc staring up at him on the right side, and where there was usually a game manual, there sat a laminated card. Deciding to look at the card first, Shintaro carefully slid it out before bringing it closer to his face to read it.

In printed red letters, a short message glared up at him.

_Welcome, one with Favoring Eyes, to the heat haze._

The eighteen year old suddenly wished that like most games, Medusa's Curse had a playing manual, because he was at a loss for the meaning of the message. Despite his confusion, he thought it best not to lose the card so he carefully placed it back in the case before looking over at the disc. The disc art was of a silver snake with bright red eyes eating its own tail with the words 'Medusa's Curse' in a deep, dark red on top of it. The background was pure black. As Shintaro stared at the snake, a term came to mind; Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail in mythology to symbolize a continuous cycle of life. Well, Shintaro thought as he frowned down at the disc, AZaMi sure seemed to like to psyche their customers out.

Hesitantly as the clumsy shut-in could manage, Shintaro put the disc into his computer's disc slot. A screen popped up on his monitor with the girl from the box cover leaning on a loading bar. His dark eyes followed the loading bar as it slowly went completely blue, indicating that it was done loading. The girl's red eyes winked at Shintaro before the screen disappeared. The raven haired boy's eyes scanned his computer for any change before nearly 15 seconds later a new screen popped up, this one larger than the previous. This time, instead of the strange girl, a large black snake was staring up at him, sticking its tongue out experimentally every few seconds before inclining its head to left to the button with the word install in all capital letters in dark red print. Shintaro shakily hovered his mouse over the button before finally clicking it. The snake seemed to mock him as its pixelated body slithered onto the right side of the install button. Slowly, the button faded away and words appeared in its place.

_Welcome to the heat haze. What you do in this world will impact your life from now on out. You cannot tell outsiders of what happens within the heat haze. By accepting the curse, you must leave your old life behind. Will you agree to these terms?_

Under these words were two new boxes to choose from, one with the word install once again while to the right of it stood a new choice, one with similarly capitalized red letters spelling the word delete. As Shintaro stared at the smirking snake to the side, he nearly brought his mouse to the delete choice before remembering that Ene had bought this game for him. She might not have bought it out of the goodness of her heart, but she had still bought it for him. He'd be a complete jerk if he didn't even try the game out. And besides, the reason for his momentary fear was absolutely ridiculous. It was a simulated snake. It couldn't affect him in any way.

With this in mind, the hiki-NEET confidently clicked the install button, only to see the snake on the screen to seemingly convulse and a hissy laugh could be heard coming out of his speakers. As the hissing died down, the snake stopped moving before it too winked a red eye at him before, instead of the screen disappearing, his entire screen went black. Shintaro audibly gasped and he stiffened in his computer seat, suddenly wary of the program his friend had bought for him.

Slowly, the snake from before materialized on his black screen. Its black scales shined from an uncertain light source and its red eyes stared straight into the eldest Kisaragi sibling's black eyes. Its long body continuously slithered and crawled around the screen, although its head never moved position. Shintaro held his breath, waiting for something to happen. His body went rigid as a sibilant voice floated from his speakers.

"_You're a bit different than I imagined. The one fated for Favoring Eyes to be so… different. But I suppose we all have our faults."_

The snake seemed to mockingly laugh once more at his misfortune as its body continued to traverse his computer screen. Despite the fact that he knew it was merely a program and as such would only have a pre-determined speech, he found himself talking back to the snake on his computer screen.

"What are Favoring Eyes? And what do you mean different?"

The snake seemed to smirk before it continued on.

"_I meant exactly what I said, boy. And the Favoring Eyes? You have to find that out on your own."_

Shintaro's breathing was noticeably heavier as he panicked. Did the program truly hear what he said? Or was it pre-determined? He had no doubt Ene would have complained if the program immediately labeled her as a girl, so despite his logical reasoning saying it was the latter, he was leaning towards the former. Just in case it _could_ hear him though, he answered back.

"That's not exactly fair is it? I have no idea what you are talking about."

If snakes had eyebrows, Shintaro had a feeling one be raised at this point. Instead the snake just let out its tongue for a longer period of time than usual before answering.

"_Life isn't fair, boy. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give you a hint. But I will only say this once, so listen well."_

The eighteen year old straightened up as he prepared himself for whatever the program had to tell him. A small voice inside him chided about him getting so serious over a mere game, but he pushed the thought aside.

"_Have you ever wanted to know how others see you? How they see the world? To walk in another's shoes, that is the Favoring Eyes. It is a rare and useful gift, to those who can use it properly. I don't truly believe you have what it takes to use these eyes, but stranger things have happened, as they say."_

Shintaro took in what the snake said seriously, although he still had no clue as to what it was saying. It was talking in riddles and he was getting frustrated, fast. And with frustration comes bad decisions. One of them being what he snarled at the snake on his computer.

"What kind of hint is that? I don't appreciate you talking in riddles, you know. You could at least give me a straight answer."

The snake let out a loud hiss that reverberated through the boy's speakers.

"_And I don't appreciate your tone, boy. I am giving you a gift, and a very useful one at that. The least you could do is be grateful."_

Despite better judgment, Shintaro could not stand to be talked down to by a computer program.

"Be grateful for what? I have no idea what you are talking about!"

The snake reared up and let out a mighty hiss before lashing its tongue at him.

"_I have half a mind to rid you of your life, boy. But I am merciful. I will still bestow you with the gift. But for now, __**sleep**_."

As if a spell, after the snake hissed the word, the eighteen year old's vision darkened and his head hit his keyboard with a resounding thump. He was asleep.

* * *

The next thing Shintaro knew was pounding; one in his mind, and one upon his door. The boy groaned as he slowly sat up, cracking his back as he went. Did he fall asleep while on his computer again. He brought his hand up to his forehead which was littered with key marks. The ringing in his head from a headache grew louder as his mother's shrill voice went through his door.

"This is the last time, Shintaro! Either you come to dinner now, or you don't get any!"

The eighteen year old hiki-NEET let out another groan before shouting to his mother that he would be out in a minute. As his mother's footsteps rang out down the hallway, the raven haired boy slowly gathered his bearings. His eyes closed as he tried to remember what he was doing before he went to sleep. As the memories rushed back to him, his eyes opened wide and he abruptly stood up. His eyes scanned his computer screen, only to see it the same as normal, except with a new shortcut added to his desktop. The shortcut was of a red eye with two black gothic letters, M and C, in the middle. And unsurprisingly, under the shortcut were the words 'Medusa's Curse.' Shintaro took in a shaky breath before running a hand through his hair. He had to think about this rationally. Surely he had fallen asleep after hitting install and everything that had happened afterwards was a nightmarish fantasy, right?

Regardless of whether it was a dream or not, the raven haired boy shakily walked over to his bedroom door before walking towards the dining room. There was no point in stressing out over it. It was over. He didn't technically have to even play the game. No one was holding a gun to his head and forcing him. He was free to do as he pleases. At this thought, the boy lets out a tired sigh before sitting down in his seat at the dinner table across from his younger sister. Just as he had suspected earlier, his mother had shot him many suspicious glances throughout dinner. Momo pretended to be oblivious to it and happily told the family of her day. Despite Shintaro's love for his sister, he found himself zoning out of the conversation as he does every night. As the dinner ends, with Shintaro's usual minimal input, he quickly washes his plate before running back to his room.

As he closes the door behind him, he begins to make his way over to his mini-fridge and pulls out a fresh, cold cola bottle. Unscrewing the cap, he smiles at the familiar sizzle he hears as it opens before he begins downing the bottle. As the caffeine in his veins begins to take effect, he subconsciously goes around doing his nightly rituals which includes and mainly restricts to taking care of his pet rabbit, Tono. He finished cleaning out the bedding and was beginning to put new food into his bowl when Shintaro caught sight of the white creature's eyes. They had never bothered him before, but as Shintaro looked into the red eyes of his pet, he visibly shook. The NEET quickly shook his head before finishing taking care of Tono's needs, giving him a soft, affectionate pat on the head as he finished. He began picking up some trash that was littering his room as he made his way towards his computer desk. As he spotted his red jacket lying sprawled out across his bean bag chair, he scooped it up before judging the distance between himself, the closet, and his desk chair. Looking back at his jacket, he mentally shrugged before shrugging it on.

He unceremoniously plopped into his desk chair and rolled up to his computer. He was slightly disheartened to see no blue haired pigtailed sprite at the bottom right corner of his screen. He must have really hurt Ene's feelings. Shintaro mentally pushed away guilt over having upset the older girl before scrolling through his messages. He only had three new e-mails, two obviously spam messages and one rant from an anonymous poster on one of his blogs. Shintaro sighed in annoyance before deleting all three. As he idly closed the window and searched for something to do on his desktop, the new shortcut bored a hole into him.

Shintaro reluctantly moved his mouse towards the red eye shortcut, wanting nothing more than to pretend it didn't exist. Despite his wishes, the eye continued glaring at him, daring him to click it. The eighteen year old took the challenge and courageously, or perhaps foolishly, double clicked the icon.

Instead of going completely black as it had the previous time, his screen went white and the company's name, AZaMi, slowly faded into the screen. After about thirty seconds of it just sitting upon the screen, it faded back into white. Slowly words floated onto the screen. The game's title, Medusa's Curse, was surrounded by pale off white snakes in the top left corner. To the right, the words 'Create a Character' were bobbing up and down, insinuating that he could choose that. As he didn't see his mouse, Shintaro uncertainly hit the enter button. As a soft 'ping' resounded through his speakers to alert him that he had made a choice, the screen once more faded into white before a bright white flash blinded the NEET.

Belatedly recognizing the flash as the video camera attached to the top of his monitor, Shintaro opened his eyes to see the picture taken of him appearing on the screen. His scruffy appearance was an eye sore. His black hair was messy, strands falling into his face. His dark eyes stared back at him listlessly, dark bags hovering below. Unhealthily pale skin that glowed in the computer's light. A subconscious slight frown playing on his lips. His crinkled black shirt which he had worn for days looked dirty to even his eyes, and his old red jacket which he had worn on a whim, wrinkled beyond belief. As he flinched at his unsightly image, the picture faded away, leaving a pixelated version of him in its place. The program had somehow even managed to get his wrinkled khaki pants onto his pixelated form. The only thing different of his clothes were his feet, which, instead of being bare, had black converse upon them. The main difference between himself and the pixelated boy however were the bright red eyes staring up at him from the screen. He briefly wondered if the picture from his camera had had red eye glare, but as he remembered the picture, he threw the idea away. The picture had had his black eyes, not the bright red that he saw in his sprite.

Shintaro frowned at his sprite and as the words 'Would you like to customize your character? Yes or No,' he was tempted to hit yes and change the eyes. However, given what he had already seen from the game, he doubted it would allow him to change them. The raven haired boy sighed before moving the arrow keys until the word 'No' was moving slightly in its place and hit the enter button.

With his decision made, his sprite moved to the left hand side of the screen and a typing screen appeared on the right, along with the words, 'Choose your weapon.' Due to the area to type, Shintaro had a feeling you could type in whatever you pleased as your weapon, and if the program recognized it, it would give your character said weapon. Shintaro was tempted to type in some sort of gun, seeing as he was unbeatable when it came to a shooting game. However, he was yearning to type in the name of a sword. After all, there was something more personal, more gratifying, to physically slice your victims.

Shintaro wasn't sure whether to type in 'sword' or the name of a sword, but he decided on the former just in case. But as the words 'What type of sword would you prefer for your weapon?' appeared after he hit enter, the hiki-NEET suddenly felt embarrassed he hadn't typed in a kind of sword the first time around.

The eighteen year old frowned at the screen, wracking his brain for a type of sword that would work. Katanas were too overdone, so that was a no. Some European style swords had their advantages, but Shintaro wanted to stick with a weapon he actually knew about. After a few minutes of staring at the red eyes of his sprite, a sword finally came to mind. Computer savvy fingers deftly typed out the word 'Nagamaki' before hitting enter, relaxing at the joyful 'ping.'

As he watched, a long sword materialized on the screen next to his sprite. The hilt was shorter than what he had seen of most Nagamakis, but it was still definitely the sword he had typed in. The blade was long and only slightly curved, a pleasing silver gleam coming off of it. The hilt was black with gold metal at the top as a hand guard, and the sheath that was next to it was a blood red. Shintaro grimaced at the color, believing the game to like the color a tad too much before he looked towards the floating words above the sword. 'Are you certain this is the weapon you choose? Yes or No' shone out in dark red letters, and Shintaro watched as the 'Yes' moved slightly up and down, indicating that was the choice he was currently on. Part of him wasn't completely happy with his choice, but he hit enter anyways.

As the words drifted away, the NEET watched as the pixelated version of himself grabbed the hilt of the virtual sword with both hands and the sheath attacked to his back. The raven haired boy watched in slight awe as his character used the sword in wide sweeping motions, expertly showing the sword's best characteristics. After the little demonstration given by his character, a few more words floated onto the screen, along with a new typing box. As the words 'What is your name?' appeared on the screen, Shintaro felt slightly foolish. He had started to believe the game to be almost all knowing after his maybe dream from earlier. Shaking the thought away, Shintaro typed in his name and hit enter. Unlike most games, it didn't ask him if he was sure and the next thing he knew, his character had turned away from him and began walking forwards. Shintaro froze, confused as to what was happening, before he watched, mystified, as a forest began to appear around his sprite as it continued walking. Once the whole screen was covered in a realistic forest, the words that had come to haunt him had appeared once again, and for the last time, above his character's head. Shintaro breathed in deeply before he whispered the words in bright red letters on his screen.

"Welcome to the heat haze."

* * *

**End Note: **And chapter one is done! You don't know how tempted I was to give Shintaro a Zweihänder. But I decided I ought to give him a Japanese make. Whatever. Nagamakis are cool swords too. I'm going to post this as soon as I have access to internet for a while. I'm stuck in a house without internet as of now. But enough of that. Am I allowed into the fandom yet?


End file.
